


Over The Rainbow

by Sorin_Sunchild



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: But it's gonna be mostly lovely, Eddie figuring out how to be comfortable with being gay will be an oof, Eddie is blond, Emotion heavy with this one my dudes, M/M, Richie is bisexual, cliche title is cliche, eddie is gay, short fluffy chapters for an (hopefully) easy read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:02:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorin_Sunchild/pseuds/Sorin_Sunchild
Summary: Fighting IT was a large part of their lives, but it wasn't the only important thing to happen.Friends are important.Love is important.Finally accepting yourself is most important of all.Eddie is doing his best to unlearn years of homophobia and allow himself to be finally happy. Lucky for him, Richie has plenty of experience and plenty of love and patience.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Reddie - Relationship
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

There wasn't an easy way for Eddie to explain his feelings.   
  
Nor did he (Eddie was firm on this) really want to delve into the complex relationship he had with sex and sexuality. Admitting that he only liked men was actually the easy part, now that it was behind him. Eddie found out that there was a lot more going on inside of him, a lot more fears, a lot more insecurities, than he'd let himself discover before. Not that any of his 'coming out' had been easy.   
  
'Coming out of the closet'. It was something Eddie Kaspbrak had only heard of other people doing. Usually on TV dramas or in books. He hadn't exactly frequented the 'gay scene' either in Derry or any of the places he'd lived besides. He wasn't even sure he was 'in' with other gay people right now. How did one catch up on years of culture you'd missed out on, due to pretending it didn't involve You? It only involved Other People. Those who were Different from the accepted world view that had been drilled into Eddie since he was a vulnerable and impressionable child.   
  
Richie had told him not to worry about that. The internet was great for researching history and major issues, everything else could be learnt (or not learnt) at Eddie's discretion. It wasn't even vitally important that Eddie attended a Pride event. Eddie had relaxed a little after hearing that. He would preform homosexuality in a way that made him comfortable. Remarkably, this had involved very little change on Eddie's part. Well, of course it hadn't.   
  
"I've always been gay, I just didn't realise." Eddie had tried to explain to a sobbing Myra. Oh boy, that had been something.  
  
Eddie had returned from Derry with her. She'd come to see him in the hospital every day, staying in a local motel. Eddie commended her for that, he knew she hated motels and travelling alone and had done both. Myra truly loved him and this was a fact that made his decision even harder.   
  
It would have been rude and wrong to say that Eddie didn't love Myra. He did, but he didn't love her the way she needed to be loved and couldn't love her that way no matter how much he pretended. In the end, they'd both been miserable, missing something, and pretending it was fine. Just because Myra was a big woman pushing towards her 50's didn't mean she didn't have sexual needs that needed to be met and Eddie had not been providing.

-  
  
Myra had pretended too. She'd pretended that Eddie's lack of physical affection was normal for a married couple. She often heard of married men complaining about a lack of sex (mostly in the shows she watched). Then again, the friends she had often complained that their man always wanted sex, so often that they made up excuses to turn him down sometimes. Myra had calmly bragged that Eddie never pressured her. Which was true, because he never asked and so she'd never asked either. She'd just dealt with herself and that was how life was.  
  
Still, she had loved him. Taking care of Eddie had made Myra happy. She'd always wanted to be somebodies wife. Eddie...sweet, delicate, charming Eddie Kaspbrak with a face like Anthony Perkins and a head of golden curls, yet such deep hazel eyes, had been the perfect man for her. Myra could fuss and busy around him all she wanted and Eddie agreed to her actions without fuss back. Most of the time, at least. They'd been a successful, happy couple until he'd said those words to her.  
  
"Myra, I'm gay."   
  
The words hit Myra like a truck carrying several tons of bricks had crashed into her and then spilled it's contents on top of her for good measure. The tears had started before she'd even registered his words properly. They clogged up her throat and caused her to croak in reply, before she cleared her throat to speak. Myra had tried to keep her tears away, dabbing at them with the edge of her sleeve and then with the tissue Eddie handed to her. He was so kind and sensitive to her needs, always had been, how could he possibly be gay when he was such a good husband? He always asked about her day, never forgot an important occasion, cried at the same movies she cried at, stood up for her against rude people, never bothered her for sex and never looked at other women.   
  
Never looked at other women...because he was gay and didn't like women. Not because he only desired her, like she'd thought. Then she'd cried even harder.   
  
"Was it something I did? Did I turn you off women? You can tell me the truth, Eddie." Myra sobbed.  
  
"No no, I've always been gay, I just didn't realise."   
  
Eddie had put his arms around her then, which only made the whole situation feel worse. She wished that he had yelled at her, stormed out, been unreasonable. She wished he'd just packed up and left, with nothing but a note behind. She could have handled him being cold to her, maybe even mustered up some anger at his behaviour. Myra couldn't stand this tender behaviour when really she had no right to be playing the victim here and deep down she knew that. Still she couldn't help the tears, and she couldn't help but feel that it was her fault.   
  
Myra recalled once looking closely at a picture of Eddie's deceased mother and thinking that the two of them looked alike. Oh no, not Eddie and his mother, but Myra and Eddie's mother. Then she'd shaken it off and called it coincidence. Now she wondered if he'd been so traumatised by this fact that Eddie had gone off of women for good.   
  
"I can lose weight you know, get into shape. I had a pretty good figure in my youth and..."  
  
"Marty, it's not about that. It was never about that, you're a beautiful woman and you've been very good to me, but I can't be the husband you need and I can't pretend I love you the way you need to be loved." Eddie let her go, but he didn't go far. He sat, their knees and hands touching as he faced her, chair pulled close.   
  
"You're a great husband, Eddie! You always have been! I don't need lots of sloppy kisses and sex to be happy, I just need you to be there for me like you always are!" Myra had tried to grab for him and only then did he pull back and stand up. It was at that moment that Myra knew he was serious and she'd really lost him.   
  
Myra recalled that dark day when he'd disappeared off to his home town. He'd carried a power with him then that she couldn't break through and it was back again now.   
  
"I'm sorry, Myra. It's hard now, but I think we'll both be better off apart." Eddie said.  
  
"So what now, divorce?" She was helping herself to tissues at this point.  
  
"Yeah. I guess so."   
  
-  
Divorce had been a long process but not as terrible as Eddie thought it would be. It had been emotionally taxing more than anything else. There had been a lot of things that needed working out with the house and the business. Eddie would still work of course, but he'd allowed Myra to have the house. He'd been house hunting during the divorce (and sleeping in the spare bedroom) when Richie had offered to allow Eddie to stay with him.  
  
The offer was convenient and welcomed. It would be a large move, but Eddie couldn't stand the awkward air every time he and Myra met in the house. Myra couldn't help but tear up most of the time and Eddie was at risk more times than he'd like to admit of just quitting the divorce and pretended he'd been wrong about being gay. Being able to text his friends had helped to keep his strong. Eddie had really missed them.   
  
He'd taken Richie's offer, all the while wondering if Richie realised that Eddie's grand revelation about himself was largely Richie's fault.   
  
Richie was not the only man that Eddie had had a crush on, or felt romantic feelings for that was almost a crush. These feelings had come his whole life. Sometimes it was celebrities, sometimes men he worked with or even strangers passing on the street. That tentative feeling of attraction he'd passed off as admiration or generic appreciation of good looking people. However none of these men had ever carried enough weight to get him to take a deep dive and discover his true self.  
  
No. That had required something much more substantial. A tall, broad man with brilliant blue eyes and a smile to match. A man who had delighted his mind and his heart so many times over, whether Eddie had known it or not. But oh boy did he know it now.   
  
  



	2. The new normal

Even when they were children, the Tozier's had had the nicest house for a while around. It seemed that Richie had expected to live in such luxury all his life. Lucky for him, he was a very famous and therefore well paid entertainer, whether that be on the radio or doing small comedy tours and game shows appearances. Eddie had once asked him if he'd ever be a stand up comedian permanently, or go into tv. Richie had stated he preferred his current way of doing things. Impressions were what he loved to do and his current situation called for plenty. It wasn't always about being funny, it was about the charm.  
  
It was impossible to pretend that Richie didn't have a natural kind of charm oozing from his pores even when he was being a little annoying. Even as a child, he'd had this skill. Eddie understood his choice in life. Hadn't he, himself, taken a job that allowed him to use his skills and interests? Eddie liked cars and he could get himself anywhere without needing to check for directions. So why not help others get to the places they needed to be? 

His place now seemed to be at Richie's house. A motel may have been fine, but a house as nice as this one would be a lot more comfortable. However, there was a kind of resistance inside of Eddie as he sat in his car and looked up at the house. Should he be doing this? It felt like running to the arms of a mistress. That was ridiculous, of course. He and Richie had never done anything remotely romantic together, let alone had a relationship behind Myra's back. Eddie couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness though.   
  
His eyes had met with Richie's the moment he entered the restaurant that day. A Chinese restaurant wasn't a typical place for romance and yet Eddie had felt not a soft stirring, but a sudden forceful rush of love and adoration. So strong and certain it had him reaching for his aspirator. It was as if his heart had been waiting for him to see this man once more. Eddie wondered if Ben had felt the same way seeing Beverly again, or even Bill seeing Bev for that matter. They'd slipped back into their old roles so easily, and Richie had had no problem being instantly affectionate, touching and pinching and cooing at Eddie. This was how Richie had always been and Eddie had gradually begun to feel more awkward and forlorn about the behaviour. Not that he'd ever resented Richie, oh no. It was entirely his own response to these things that worried Eddie.  
  
As a child, it had been a sweet kind of sadness. He truly did love it when Richie gave him any attention and physical touch. It was no secret that he was touch starved. But the sadness came from confusion, born in the breast of a child who had been taught all his life that men do not love men. He couldn't admit to himself, even as he lay in his bedroom, his cheek still tingling from a cheeky goodbye kiss Richie had given him, that he loved Richie. So instead he'd been sad, sad that he couldn't shake the need for closeness. Sad that he wanted what Bill and Beverly had. Sad that he couldn't tell a soul about how he felt.   
  
Eddie had instead written it over and over on a piece of paper. He'd written out his love almost in a fever, then torn it into the tiniest pieces and flushed it down the toilet. He couldn't risk his mother seeing it. It was the consternations of a stupid kid, who felt like he had to do something to let out the sickness inside of him. Not just love sickness, but surely the sickness of being attracted to another man in the first place. His mother had always referred to it that way. "These queers don't know what love is, what they have is a sickness." And so that's what Eddie had come to believe.  
  
As an adult, he'd known through life experiences that this wasn't true. But he'd still felt that same guilt when they met again. The feelings were so obvious and so intense that Eddie couldn't pass them off the way he'd done all his adult life with random crushes. He looked at Richie and he wanted to cry because there was no way the two of them could be together. Eddie felt like fate and life just wouldn't allow it. If they did, then Eddie's own psyche would prevent him. Life was full of if's for him all of a sudden.   
  
So here he was, sat in his car and feeling wrong for accepting the invitation of a friend. They'd shared a bed in Derry one of the nights they were there, only because of fear and the comfort of friendship. It had been the single most intimate moment of his life after the first night he'd shared a bed with his wife. Ex-wife. They hadn't done anything except be side by side. Occasionally, an arm or leg would touch. They hadn't woken up entangled like in a romantic story. It had been strictly platonic. Yet, Eddie had absorbed the experience into himself greedily and thrived off of it. He wanted to wake up beside Richie every day. Did that innocent thought really make him sick? Eddie shuddered to himself.  
  
He'd brooded over his feelings for Richie whenever his thoughts weren't occupied with surviving. He'd brooded over them during his conscious moments in hospital. He'd brooded over them at home. He'd come to the conclusion that nothing was a mistake. His feelings were real and had always been there, for Richie and occasionally pulling towards other men. He knew that none of those kinds of feelings had ever gone towards Myra or any woman. He knew there was a word for men like him.   
  
Richie was the catalyst for this revelation, the one which had led him to leave his wife. Was it any wonder then, that it felt wrong to be outside of his house? Even though Richie had absolutely no idea how important he'd been in this all. He'd certainly been proud of Eddie, and Eddie himself had felt his stomach flop with excitement when Richie revealed that he himself was bisexual and would happily teach Eddie all about the queer community. They'd had long conversations about various things over the phone. It had felt highly taboo and somewhat thrilling to speak so openly and positively about it at all.   
  
Staying with Richie was innocent, though. Even if they did one day get together, and even if Myra did come to the conclusion that they'd already been together and that's why the divorce had happened, it didn't matter. The truth was, right now, it was just a friend helping out another friend. Eddie got out of the car and went around to the trunk to retrieve his couple of suitcases.   
  
Richie was ready for him when he rang the doorbell and had welcomed him with an hug almost before he'd managed to put his suitcases down to receive it. It felt like being barrelled into by a large excited Great Dane who still thought of himself as a puppy. Eddie couldn't help but grin and laugh even as he struggled to stay on his feet. Richie pulled away after a while, and Eddie realised he hadn't heard a word the other had been saying, concentrating far too much on the touch of their bodies together.  
  
"...ya know?"  
  
"Sorry, I think you knocked my ears off when you smacked into me. What did you say?" Eddie cupped a hand over his ear like the parody of an old person.  
  
Richie laughed loud and honestly. "Knocked your ears off, that's real chuckalicious, Eds." He took Eddie's things inside before the other man could grab them.  
  
Eddie followed. He closed the door behind them and took off his shoes without being asked. It was even nice inside, though with posters of old rock stars and cheesy horror movies framed on the walls, it felt like one giant kids bedroom. It felt like Richie. Speaking of, he'd always been a little shorter than all of his friends, but Richie had really grown during puberty. Eddie was jealous, feeling he hadn't changed all that much. Anyone who was honest would have told him he'd grown up to look remarkably like Anthony Perkins with golden hair and therefore was a dreamboat for many a lad and lady.   
  
"And this is where you'll be staying!" Richie kicked open the bedroom door and placed Eddie's suitcases on the double bed. Eddie was pleasantly surprised. This room, as it was a guest room, was designed to be mature and practical. No zany colours, weird furniture or huge wall posters in this one. Except...Eddie could see there had been something hanging over the bed. The wallpaper was a little discoloured from where it had once been.   
  
"Did you take this down for me?" Eddie asked.  
  
"Oh nah, I took it down as soon as I got back from Derry."   
  
"Yeah? What was it?"  
  
"Killer Clowns from Outer Space."  
  
They both grinned uneasily in knowing. 

-

Richie had left him alone for a moment then. He'd slapped Eddie heartily on the back before he left and Eddie could still feel the others touch on him. Eddie put his suitcases on the bed and paused. He looked at them as if he'd never seen them before. This was it. Most of his life was now wrapped up in just two suitcases. He had considered halving the furniture, but that seemed like a waste of time. He didn't want anything that reminded him of his pathetic attempt at heterosexuality. He didn't want anything that reminded him of Myra. He wished he could have loved her more sincerely.  
  
Eventually, Eddie found it in himself to start to unpack. There was a large walk-in closet in the room, which was ridiculously large (Eddie thought) for a guest room and it easily fit all of his belongings. In fact, it looked far too empty. His many types of medication were crammed into the en-suite bathroom, with the important ones in the bedroom side table. He took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt, then went to check the view.  
  
Eddie was avoiding going to talk to Richie again, and he knew it.   
  
There was still that feeling of running into the arms of a mistress. That ridiculous feeling that made his balls ride up and his stomach clench. Eddie reached for the aspirator in his pocket as his chest started to tighten. Then stopped, and breathed slowly in and out, looking at the aspirator. He was leaving behind so much of his life. Why could he still not leave behind this thing? He knew he didn't need it. Eddie held it tight and contemplated throwing it out of the window. Instead, he put in the nightstands drawer and went to find Richie.   
  
Richie was in the kitchen, flipping pancakes. The smell hit Eddie before he saw what was going on and he walked a little slower, taking in the homely scent. The radio was on, blasting oldies, and Richie was jamming to it as he cooked. The kitchen counter was a mess.   
  
"Pancakes for dinner?"   
  
"Oh Jesus!" Richie jumped and whirled around, he held up a spatula like a knife. "Don't sneak up on me, ye landlubber! Next time I'll run ye through!" He crowed in a parody of pirate talk.  
  
"With a spatula?" Eddie smirked, he leaned up against the wall.   
  
"Ay matey." Richie narrowed his eyes, a mischievous smirk crawled across his face.   
  
"So, pancakes?" Eddie did not mind the verbal joking, but he felt like they had been teetering on the edge of some practical japery and he wasn't in the mood.  
  
"Oh yuh huh." Richie replied, back to himself. Sometimes he lost himself in his characters. "Breakfast of champions, dinner food of divorcees."  
  
"I'm not really in a place where I want to joke about this yet."   
  
"Got it." Richie said. "One more though?"  
  
"Alright, hit me."  
  
"Now you're divorced, you'll have to be your own mommy for once in your life."  
  
Eddie grabbed a spare spatula and hit Richie on the can with it.   
  
-  
  
The pancakes were delicious. Thick and golden and with a variety of things to spread on top. Eddie played it safe at first, taking blueberries and cream. By his third one, he was smearing chocolate sauce and sugar on top. He hadn't realised he was so hungry. An hour ago, the thought of food had made him sick. Was it just because he was near Richie? Being around his friends had always made him feel better.   
  
Through everything, they'd never learnt that the gifts they had and the bond they shared was to do with the Shine they had. Nothing had been a coincidence. They had never needed the help of the Turtle. The seven of them had been born around the same time to families who believed they'd long ago bred out the Shining. If the Turtle had been any help, it was the way it cultivated their gifts into a specific way.   
  
Bill, Stan and Richie had gotten the Shine in it's purest form, telepathic communication, the ability to read people and interpret their emotions. Stan's had bloomed to allow him attack things physically, although he'd called it being logical (unbeknownst to Eddie, Stan had also had the gift of precognition when he was older). Richie and Mike had the extra spin that allowed them to have visions. Mike's Shine allowed him to feel and understand Derry deeper than anyone ever had and to remember when the rest of them could not. Ben's had allowed him to see constructs laid out before him and to create them with ease. Bev's had allowed her to subconsciously bend probability in her favour, making her an excellent shot with any weapon and the perfect risk taker and she'd reported a small ability to see ghosts.   
  
And Eddie? He'd always felt like he was rounding the back of the bunch. If he was given a location to get to, he'd be able to get there. It wasn't like he saw a map in his head, not exactly. He just knew when to turn, where to go, and how to get there the fastest. Had it come to him when Richie called and told him that his ideal location was here? Perhaps.   
  
Whatever the special skill, in it's purest form, the Shine had allowed them to build up amazing power between them. Weak Shine turning to incredible power the more they loved each other. It was running down now, Eddie felt. It ran down slower if they were around each other, but one day they wouldn't have it at all. It scared Eddie that perhaps what he was feeling was all due to what he could only refer to as The Power or The Bond, having no teacher to tell him it's more ancient name.   
  
Eddie looked at Richie as he took his plate to the sink and started to wash it. There were two pancakes left but he was full now and Richie seemed bottomless. No. He loved this man. He couldn't deny it to himself even if he could deny it to Richie.   
  
They had all gone through a lot together too. Anyone would stay bonded after that. They hadn't even started to forget this time, though specifics had blurry edges when he tried to think back. That was likely just normal memory recall issues.  
  
Eddie still thought about Stan sometimes.  
  
None of them had been able to go to Stan's funeral. They had, however, gone together to the grave when Mike returned from Florida. Patricia had sent them a picture of Stan all grown up and that picture was all they knew of him as an adult. In Eddie's mind, he still saw Stan as a child.  
  
It was painful to look down at cold stone and earth and think about how this was all that was left of Stan. Eddie had started to tear up, which set Bev off though she'd been holding it back the entire walk to the grave. She'd curled into Ben to try and hide her tears. Eddie wished he'd been able to curl into Richie this way. Instead, Eddie, Richie, Mike and Bill had stood with their arms over each others shoulders. Eddie had not cried, not then, but he did later in his car.   
  
"We should go." Mike took his arms away first, his whisper was tender.   
  
The remaining Losers pulled from their pockets several different small stones. Bill's was perfectly smooth, like the egg of a bird. Mike's was a flat dark kind of flit. Richie's was almost shaped like a heart, almost. Bev's was sandy and sparkled softly in the light. Ben's was small and speckled, with a small groove in the middle. Eddie went last. He knew it probably didn't matter, but he'd tried really hard to pick a good stone to leave in respect for Stan. He placed it in the row they'd made together. It was multi-layered from the years the earth had toiled on it. The layers came together to look like an eye, watching over good ol' Stan the Man. They stood a little longer after all, the circle feeling a little more complete even if Stan was not there physically.   
  
Eddie snapped out of his memories when Richie poked his cheek. "Hey, you've been washing a clean plate over and over again. You ok?"  
  
"Yeah." Eddie put the plate in the drying rack. "Just thinking about stuff. Relationships, stuff like that."  
  
"Miss the ex-wife?" Richie asked. Eddie scooted aside so Richie could start the serious washing up.   
  
"No. I was thinking about Stan."  
  
Richie stopped and tilted his head. He looked at Eddie curiously. Eddie sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew how it sounded. It was strange to be thinking of their dead friend out of the blue.  
  
"Being with you just made me remember how the six of you were and are the most important relationships in my life. I'm glad you don't mind me being over, Rich." Eddie smiled.   
  
"You and I will always be together, Eds. I promise you that." Richie went back to scrubbing, but talked as he did so. It was rare that anything got in the way of Richie's talking. "I don't care what happens, I will be there for you. Not to get mushy or anything, but you're a special man Eddie. We were all brought together for a purpose but things don't have to end because that purpose is over. Things...are different from back then. Stan isn't around, you genuinely do have breathing problems because of the - ya know - even if it's still not asthma. All of us are a little more traumatised. But we do still have each other."  
  
"Holy shit, Eds are you crying?"  
  
"No." Eddie wept.   
  
Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie and squeezed him tight. Eddie laid his head face against Richie's collarbone and allowed himself to cry without really being sure why he was crying.   
  
\--

A few months passed and the divorce finally went through completely. Eddie was a single man. Where did that leave him?  
  
Eddie had moved in permanently with Richie. He had no plans to leave. Richie had no plans to kick him out. He'd bought decorations to his own liking to spruce up the kitchen and his bedroom. He used his own private bathroom, sure, but his items were in there instead of the guest ones now. His closet had gradually filled up with new clothing, some of it gifts from Richie. His shoes were always by the door and the food he liked was always in the kitchen. They'd had the others over for dinner which they hosted together, as equals. Eddie lived there, it wasn't just a stay any more. Neither of them said it explicitly, but it was rather obvious.  
  
He looked over to Richie as the two sat watching tv one evening. It was incredibly domestic, not even all that different to his nights spent with Myra. Yet, there was a greater sense of comfortability here. He didn't mind that Richie insisted on sitting right beside him despite the huge size of the living room. Eddie sighed softly in content and wriggled himself deeper into the plush couch. Richie put his arm around him. Eddie's heart beat quicker, he didn't allow himself to think as he slipped himself into the crook between Richie's body and his arm. Richie's strong arm wrapped more tightly around him. Eddie felt the man press his lips against his scalp. Richie's warm breath tickled. Eddie's whole body felt hot and prickly and he wasn't sure if that was a good feeling or not.   
  
They had cuddled before, as children, as scared adults cowering in the sewers. This felt different. At some point, the mechanics of their relationship had changed completely. Eddie didn't even need to question that Richie felt it too. The tender lips in his hair proved that. The sound of the tv seemed to have dimmed. All Eddie could hear was the sound of Richie's slightly fast heartbeat and their in sync gentle breathing. Eddie surprised himself by speaking first.  
  
"I love you, Richie."  
  
"I love you too, Eds."  
  
"No, listen." Eddie sat himself up. He got onto his knees so he could be in a slightly elevated position as he faced Richie. They had said 'I love you' to each other before, to all of their friends in fact. The love they all felt for each other ran deeper than the embarrassment some people felt saying the L word towards a friend. Eddie fixed Richie with a deep stare, dark eyes to bright eyes, each steady and studying deep into the other. Eddie put his hands on either side of Richie's face. Richie was still wearing his glasses. Trauma from childhood had made him switch to contacts for years. Going back to Derry and being influenced by It had made him switch back. Richie, for whatever reason, had decided to keep them after It was dead. Maybe that walk around Derry alone had helped him overcome some of the trauma. Eddie, ironically had gotten used to wearing glasses in his old age but still had glasses thinner than Richie's. Richie's eyes were really that bad, but not so bad he couldn't see how serious Eddie was. No jokes were made.  
  
"I really love you. You're the whole reason I had...needed to, wanted to, finally be true with myself. I think I might have had it bad for you since we were kids, it's hard to tell, feelings are messed up when you're young and mine were...well, what I'm trying to say is..."  
  
Then Richie had pecked him, swiftly and softly on the lips. Eddie made a soft squeak of surprise, then went bright red and dropped his hands. He didn't pull away though, instead he balled his fist into the front of Richie's shirt and turned his face to try and hide the shy smile that came across it. He didn't hide it well enough.  
  
"Aw, come here Eds." Richie pulled him into a strong hug, lifted Eddie onto his lap and started to pepper his face with kisses. He avoided the mouth this time though. That place was special. "I told you before and I'll tell you again, from the first moment I saw you, I thought you were cute."  
  
"I thought you were just fucking around when you said that." Eddie felt flushed and exhilarated.

Having his feelings returned was the best relief for months (potentially years) of emotional build up. Eddie had only intended to be honest since he was living with the man. He hadn't thought past the idea of Richie perhaps returning the feeling. Yet, hadn't he only come forward because of some inner sensation that he wasn't the only one in love here? Maybe it was that soft Shine the seven of them had. Did that make them boyfriends now? He'd deal with that question later. Now it was just Eddie and Richie, holding each other like they'd both deeply craved to do for so long. He went from tensed and embarrassed to relaxed once again. Richie's arms were strong and comforting and familiar. He was still a little on guard. The idea that it was wrong to be sitting on a man's lap like this and being showered in romantic affection gnawed at the back of Eddie's mind. Richie's smiling face and love filled eyes told him it was alright.   
  
"Yeah. I thought I was too." 


End file.
